Finland begins to classify arms exports
Finland has changed its approach to disclosing information on arms exports: since 2021, some permits for arms sales abroad have become classified.
Here's What We Know
This is stated in an investigation by the Finnish newspaper Yle, which indicates that this practice was first applied in June 2021 when an export licence was issued to Israel. The licence was granted to Sensofusion, a company based in Vantaa that specialises in drone countermeasures.
Since then, government documents have begun to encrypt key elements, such as the names of exporters, final recipients, and even the types of military equipment that are allowed to be supplied. This makes it impossible to publicly track what kind of weapons Finnish companies are supplying and where. Journalists called the change "significant", as previously all licences for the export of defence equipment were completely open.
A Patria SKY drone. Illustration: Patria
The Finnish Ministry of Defence explains this decision by the growing security risks in the world, requests from companies or recipient countries, as well as compliance with domestic legislation, in particular, the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Rikka Pitkänen, a spokesperson for the ministry, stressed that in some cases encryption is required due to "commercial secrets" or "security interests of the partner state". In addition, bilateral data protection agreements, which Finland has already concluded with more than 20 countries, may be the basis.
Source: Yle
